MEDIA_Part 1 (2-D)Learning How Art is Made

Drawing, Painting, Printmaking,

Henri Matisse, The Red Studio, oil on canvas, 1911

Medium Technologies

Each of the materials in Matisse’s

work-the paintings, sculptures,

ceramics, drawing materials- is what

we call a medium. The history of the

various media used to create art is, in

essence, the history of various

technologies that artists have

employed.

DRAWING- One of the

oldest forms of art making, it

is seems innate since drawn

marks are the first marks a

toddler makes...in the form of

scribbles and doodles.

Antonio Lopez Garcia, Maria, pencil on paper, 1972

Dry media for drawing often comes

in some kind of stick form. Pencil,

sanguine chalk, pastel, and silverpoint

are examples of dry media used in

drawing.

History of the Pencil...

Graphite, a soft form of carbon similar to coal, was discovered in

1564 in Borrowdale, England. As good black chalk became more

and more difficult to obtain--- the lead pencil---graphite enclosed

in a cylinder of soft wood---increasing became one of the most

common of all drawing tools.

Charcoal is a carbon stick

created from burnt wood. It is

capable of producing rich, deep,

dark areas and a range of

lighter tones as well.

Types:

Willow

Vine

Powder is bound with gum or

wax

Kathe Kollwitz, Self-portrait, Drawing, Charcoal on paper, 1933

Metalpoint and Silverpoint- these drawings are

produced by a thin stylus made of silver or metal

that leaves marks on paper or wood coated with

layers of gesso as ground. Gesso is a common ground

made of very fine powdered white chalk suspended

in glue (traditional) or an acrylic medium (modern)

Raphael, Saint Paul Rending His Garments, metalpoint heightened with gouche, 1514-1515

Edgar Degas, At the Milliner’s, Pastel on Paper, 1882

Chalk and Pastels are colored

materials (pigments) held

together by wax or glue and

shaped into sticks. Sticks with

more color and less wax

produce soft smudgy lines.

Jean Dubuffet, Corps de Dame, ink on paper, 1950

In drawing, wet media are in liquid form.

Ink is the most common wet medium,

and it can be used with either brush or

pen.

New Genres_Computer Drawing

David Hockney,

Yosemite 1 (detail),

2012, ipad

drawing/painting

PRINTMAKING

Printmaking is the process of

making multiple artworks or

impressions, usually on paper,

using a printing plate, woodblock,

stone or stencil. Some types of

printmaking are: relief, intaglio,

lithography, serigraphy, and

silkscreen.

Emile Nolde, Prophet, woodcut, 1912

Woodblock = relief printing.

A design is drawn on wood, parts

that print white (in this case positive

space) are cut away.

After JMW Turner, Snow

Storm: Steamboat off a

Harbor’s Mouth (1842),

1891, engraved by R.

Brandard

Intaglio comes from the

Italian verb meaning to “cut

into”

Artists cut into a metal

plate and rub away ink, the

result are highly detailes

prints with a range of

values.

Kiki Smith, Born, Lithograph, 2002.

Lithographs are the print that

resemble drawings the most. It starts

with an oily drawing made on a

limestone slab with gum arabic

applied which resists the drawn marks.

Oil based ink is applied then the plate

or stone is pressed.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn,

silkscreen print, 1962

Silkscreen, pushing ink

through a stencil and screen

PAINTING

Painting media generally consist of two basic

components, pigment and binder. Pigments are

intense colors in powder form, derived from

animals, plants, minerals and synthetic chemicals.

A binder is the substance that holds them

together. Binders can be egg yolk, wax, glue,

drying oils, and acrylic mediums.

ENCAUSTIC= pigment + wax

Faiyum, Mummy portrait of a Man,

Encaustic on wood, 160-170

Fresco= pigment + plaster

Still life with Eggs and

Thrushes, Villa of Julia

Felix, Pompeii, before

ce. 79

Tempera= pigment + egg yolk

Sandro Botticelli,

Primavera, tempera, 1482

Watercolor= pigment + gum arabic

Andrew Wyeth, not

plowed, watercolor

on paper, 1985

Oil Painting= Pigment + Oil (linseed oil)

Willem De Kooning, Door to

the River, oil on canvas, 1960.